Thinking of taking son with ADHD next time…

He will be 6 (by our next cruise) and seems interested in all the options of fun stuff on the ships BUT he has ADHD (not medicated) and I am wondering if he will be able to handle the kids club AND if they will be able to handle him. Are there any other parents who have taken their ADHD child? Ours is very active and does have trouble listening and following directions. He currently has impulse control issues still but I am hoping in the year to cruise time he will outgrow some of that.

We want to have a relaxing cruise and be able to have some time alone but am I crazy to think that can happen if he comes with us. Any pointers or advise or others experience would be greatly appreciated J

They are quite able to deal with kids who have special needs. Contact the "Special Needs" dept before your cruise...they are wonderful about anything from Autism, to ADHD.....they know what they're doing!

They have special needs kids all the time. But, be careful because some lines have what's close to a three strikes rule. If they have too much trouble handling a child, that child can be kicked out of the kids club for the duration of the cruise.

Let your son try the club. That will be the only way to know if he can handle it. There are times when there are less kids on the ship, and the ones on board get much better attention. If you cruise when there are lots of kids on board, the club can get intense and noisy.

I think you have to use your own judgement. I don't know how old your child is or what may be causing the symptoms of ADHD, which is basically a catch phrase as far as I'm concerned. Is he on a diet that might curb his hyperactivity?

I wouldn't wait for the child to outgrow it. Kids can act out for various medical reasons. My god-daughter was really disruptive as a child and it turned out she needed tubes in her ears and couldn't hear properly. She was a changed child after that.

Sugar can make kids really hyper and many kids simply aren't eating the right things.

I wouldn't put your child in an environment that you can't safely say he will behave appropriately in.

I'm sorry I don't know much about this organization, but I have read some good things about them on cruise critic http://autismontheseas.com and maybe they can help your family.

Hi. I know exactly what you're going through! My son, now 8, has ADHD. On a scale of 1 to 10, he's a 9. We cruised with him unmedicated when he was younger. We had a great time, but I did have to do some extra planning. Here's what we did:

*Picked a cruise line with fewer children and a kids' club that wasn't overcrowded.

*We explained our son's situation to the kids' club staff, and they were great about giving him extra support if needed.

*They knew I was concerned and let me call frequently to check-in.

*We kept his time in the club very limited (just enough for him to have a little fun and perhaps for us to have an adult meal or two).

*He had a great time in the club, and we didn't have a problem.

*I packed extra toys and entertainment for him (including a DVD player) to keep him busy in the room.

*We chose shore excursions that he could handle (like the beach).

*We were extra careful about safety. Never on the balcony alone. Never out of our sight.

*If he was on the verge of being disruptive to others, we removed him from the situation.

I know you are not asking about medication, but I would like to share with you that after resisting for a long time, we finally put our son on medication. For him, it helps tremendously. Do not be afraid to explore that option if you find he is struggling across the board (at home, at school, on vacation, in public). Of course, this is a personal decision. Hope you take your son on the cruise and have a great time!

CC usually will give phones to the parents of a child under age 5 or so. Maybe explain his situation and ask if you could have a phone as well. That way they can contact you if he is getting agitated or needs you for something.

On my first cruise, my ADHD son was 5. At that point, he was undiagnosed and unmedicated. We knew he was different and more intense than his older brother, but we hadn't come to the point of a diagnosis yet. He went to Camp Carnival and did just fine. I cannot think of a single incident in the camp. He had been going to Montessori preschool since he was 3, so he was used to a group environment. He had a wonderful time on that cruise. He's now 17 and a senior in high school. He chooses to take meds when he needs them, for school and robotics club and anything else where he feels the need to focus, but has learned to be in control when not on his meds. He's the most difficult of my 3 kids, but such a joy in so many ways.

Hang in there and have a wonderful cruise!

Mine is also 6 and un-medicated ADHD - he did fine on the last cruise we were on, and we are going on another this month. There is SO much going on in the kids rooms that he was fine with jumping from activity to activity.

Talk over with your son what is expected of him. This helped when DD was younger. We would talk it through and let her know EXACTLY what would happen. Helped tremendously that she is very rules orientated.

We got lucky in that her first muster drill had about a dozen pax for the lifeboat. Ship was under 10% capacity. Made her second one easy as she knew what to expect.

She's now in University in Europe and has figured out what works for her. She still avoids crowds if she can help it.

Our ADHD son, who will be 8 on our next cruise, was 6 when we took him cruising for the first time. He was a foster child whose adoption into our family was completed a couple months before we cruised. We talked about "Camp" before we cruised and outlined our expectations. He did great EXCEPT for the one out of the classroom activity...which was ping pong. He was then banned from Camp whenever out of class activities were scheduled. The Counselors were very understanding as were we! When we explained to him he couldn't participate in some activities he was upset, but knew he needed to make better choices and his overall demeanor improved greatly! He LOVED camp!

He is already talking about Camp for our upcoming cruise and with his vast improvements in school and at home, I expect zero issues. But, I will also let the counselors know he can be a handful! It can be done! We found that a balance of a pool/waterslide time and camp worked out best with our child.

Hi. I know exactly what you're going through! My son, now 8, has ADHD. On a scale of 1 to 10, he's a 9. We cruised with him unmedicated when he was younger. We had a great time, but I did have to do some extra planning. Here's what we did:

*Picked a cruise line with fewer children and a kids' club that wasn't overcrowded.

*We explained our son's situation to the kids' club staff, and they were great about giving him extra support if needed.

*They knew I was concerned and let me call frequently to check-in.

*We kept his time in the club very limited (just enough for him to have a little fun and perhaps for us to have an adult meal or two).

*He had a great time in the club, and we didn't have a problem.

*I packed extra toys and entertainment for him (including a DVD player) to keep him busy in the room.

*We chose shore excursions that he could handle (like the beach).

*We were extra careful about safety. Never on the balcony alone. Never out of our sight.

*If he was on the verge of being disruptive to others, we removed him from the situation.

 

I know you are not asking about medication, but I would like to share with you that after resisting for a long time, we finally put our son on medication. For him, it helps tremendously. Do not be afraid to explore that option if you find he is struggling across the board (at home, at school, on vacation, in public). Of course, this is a personal decision. Hope you take your son on the cruise and have a great time!

I second everything this post says!! We took our unmedicated son on a cruise when he was 5 on HAL and he did well (for the most part) with everything. He loved the club, though one evening we did have to remove him, because he was not able to maintain control.

We went to Bermuda, as it was one destination over a 4 day time period. This allowed us to take into considerations mood, tiredness, etc. when planning our days. If it was an off day, it didn't matter, because we had plenty of time to explore.

I was also VERY resistant to meds, tried every other non-med option, but finally gave it a try when he was 7.5, and it has made a world of positive difference for him socially and emotionally.

And to the poster who claims that ADHD is a "catch-all phrase," please save judgement for judges. Until you parent an ADHD child, please keep your opinions on their treatment and diagnosis to yourself.

We are leaving for another cruise with our now 9 year-old and his 6 year-old brother in March, and can't wait!

The reason I said it is a catch all phrase is my son was diagnosed with ADHD and the therapist said he didn't need medication. Instead, I put him in a Catholic school, where he thrived. Prior to that he was in Friends School, which is less structured and he didn't do well there. Every child is unique but I really don't like the ADHD label to explain away bad behavior- I mean defiant, ill-mannered behavior. Because no teacher is going to tolerate that, nor should they have to.

The issue I have is that my son, who did have ADHD was not a behavioral problem. He knew the rules and respected them. I didn't parent him like he was any different from my other son, who thankfully does not have ADHD. He never wanted to go to the youth program or sleep away camps and I didn't ever force him to.

Many children with ADHD have allergies and this causes problems with their nervous system. That is why I said it can be food related. In my son's case, eliminating certain foods, like dairy and sugary drinks helped tremendously and he was never medicated- managed to graduate from college and law school with honors and got married this year. His ADHD hasn't hindered him a bit.

I just think that ADHD is a symptom for another issue and I don't believe in medication if you can find an organic remedy. If you can't then there may be behavior modification that can help. The very last resort is medicine IMO but I understand when all else fails and I would go that route too if I was told to by a doctor.

If you want to bring your child on the cruise with you, I don't think that your child having ADHD should be the reason you decide not to bring him. There is so much to do as a family that even if th kids club doesn't work out for him, there will be plenty of ways to keep him entertained and enjoy a family vacation! (At the same time, you shouldn't feel bad about not bringing him if what you really want is a vacation with just your husband!!)

Assuming you do bring him, I think you should just take it one day at a time, just as I am sure you do at home. ;) My youngest son is 6yo and diagnosed SLD, but not yet as having a behavior disorder. (Our pediatrician won't even consider a diagnosis until school age, and our son is in kindergarten this year.) However, he exhibits many signs of both ADHD and ODD (we have an appointment scheduled with a neurologist, but the wait list was pretty long.) For the most part, he is extremely affectionate and sweet, but when things don't go his way, watch out!! Needless to say, this can get complicated in a group situation.

However, we always allow him to at least try the kids club when we go on vacation. We do tell the staff that he can be hyper and sometimes a little aggressive, and they are usually very good at handling his occasional outbursts. (It doesn't hurt that he is super cute - of course I am extremely biased, but anyway...) We've never been asked to remove him from any of the kids clubs he's gone to. In his case, he is usually fine with "fun activities" - it's the more "academic" activities that he has trouble focusing on - so the kids clubs are usually not a problem because they aren't exactly trying to teach him his sight words! :p We just try to use our best judgement - if he is having a particularly difficult day, we won't try the kids club that day.

I hope you have a great cruise!